Renner sips her cup of tea that is placed beside her on the desk as she looks over some paperwork.
"Hm!"
She hummed as she savored its taste. In the three months she's been working for her, Edstrom has proven to be quite the brewer of tea on top of being an excellent spy. The woman had a versatile set of skills, and Renner could not help but thank her darling fiance Arthur for subduing her.
After a few more sips , he went back and looked over the papers, it's worth noting that the current chambers that Renner was occupying were not her usual.
The room was essentially a bigger and better version of the guest Room Arthur previously used and since now he was a Baron he was given a much more lavish room, the rook itself had threw room, a spacious bedroom ( which Renner has been using since Arthur is currently in carne village), a bathroom and a study room which was the one Renner was using now.
Looking over the paperwork, she slightly creased her brows as her mind began to think. So far, their take over of eight fingers has been unquestioned, and there have been no issues
"what do you think it would take to turn a criminal organisation into a legal company?"
Renner asked,more so out of curiosity rather than an earnest question. Looking for answers, as a former member of Eight fingers, Edstrom should have an idea on what to do.
"Change the way the peasants see it?"
The dark skinned woman said with a little bit of uncertainty.
"that's certainly an idea"
The princess responded, those were indeed her current plans, however simply changing the perception the peasants have of eight fingers will not work at all, after it's not like she plans to have eight fingers stop it's criminal dealings, she just plans to control and minimise it
She does want to double profits and find a way to clean the illegal money that is made by eight fingers, so having a legal organisation that will help would be ideal
They've already made steps towards that with the idea that Arthur proposed about maid cafés and currently, they've been moving things around and creating space.
Eight fingers had plenty of storage buildings and empty houses that were reserved for emergencies and such, so they should be making legal money starting this month.
'once we've established all the necessary maid cafes in the capital, we should have enough space left to rent out to a few merchants and have another source or legal profit'
She thought. Eight fingers already had a few merchants under them, but for this to work, they'll need merchants that are not affiliated with them.
Once that is done, they'll already have two way in which they make legal money, meaning they'll rely less and less on illegal means of profit.
"ah we'll simply change the name"
"m'lady?"
"it's simple Edstrom. We just need to change our organisation from eight fingers to a different name, essentially rebranding"
She stumbled upon an idea, rather than have the perception of eight fingers changed it was better to change its name and have eight fingers "destroyed" and in its perceived absence a new organisation will take its place, however this time the organisation will deal more in legal businesses.
Arthur was already in carne village, where he said he would find a pharmacist that would help develop a potion to mitigate the addictive effects of the drug black dust, if he's able to make the potion.
Arthur could just say the potion was made by a new organisation that seeks to combat the drug issue in the Re-estize Kingdom, when in actuality, it's just a rebranding of eight fingers.
"the coming war with Baharuth should be a good opportunity to introduce this new organisation"
She said,paying no attention to Edstrom beside her. Eight fingers had plenty of weapons as well, under the guise of this new organisation, they could supply the kingdom with weapons and build a sort of reputation before having eight fingers "destroyed" and have Arthur and herself be the ones that accomplishment is attributed to.
speaking of Arthur, Renner could not help but feel a bit lonely without him. He has been a constant in her life, he never used to be away from her for more than a few days as such having him be gone from her side for a full week made her feel lonely.
'we are engaged, so maybe I should take a step forward in our relationship, I'm certain he's been waiting on me, plus I need to do that so Lakyus won't get any ideas'
She thought to herself, she had figured Lakyus's morals would keep her from trying to approach Arthur however she seems hell bent on spending as much time with Arthur as she can, she can't allows that vixen to take him from her.
A small blush graced her cheeks as her mind wandered towards certain fantasies, a small part of her heart fluttered at such thoughts, seeing where such thoughts would lead she shook her head and asked her maid a question to distract herself.
"What has my brother been up to, Edstrom?"
She asked once she had finished thinking about what needed to be done. Although she could
"Prince Zanac or Prince Barbro?"
"I don't need to know anything about my Oldest Brother. He's as predictable as they come"
She stated and waved Her hand dismissively, her Brother waa one of those who thought they were the smartest in the room regardless of the situation and If it turns out he isn't he will rely on his authority to establish his dominance.
She understood him quite clearly, with Her having Established a third faction within the noble court that means his chances of taking the throne have diminished and as a response to that he'll either try to assassin her or Zanac or he'll try to take the throne by force with the aid of a foreign power, in either case she'll be justified In having him killed.
If he tries assassination she can Have him killed under the pretence of self defence or defence of her brother and both Case she earns the sympathy of the masses and Some if the nobles, if he tries the other option then he's a traitor and thus can be Killed for treason. in either case, she wins.
"For the most part, Prince Zanac is trying to garner favor with the court by accomplishing something note worth and get a leg up in the succession"
Edstrom informed, while Zanac was still somewhat predictable, he was different from Barbro in the sense that he had someone that had a good head on His shoulders as such she could predict what he'll do as he can suddenly do something else.
A smile graced her beautiful face.
"he's feeling threatened by me"
She stated with a slight glee in her voice. This was exactly something she has always wanted. To be looked at as more than a pretty face that can be used to gain something, to be seen as a genuine threat that could possibly take the throne from their grasp.
"Oh Arthur. You're quite the blessing aren't you?"
She did her best to hide her smile, Edstrom beside her couldn't help but reluctantly agree, although blessing isn't the word she'd use, after all, to her Arthur was a monster that was not to be trifled with.
Even though he was not present, Edstrom was keenly aware that if she ran she'd die before the day ends and she was not willing to risk that and besides her current job wasn't that bad at least compared to her former colleagues, compared to them she can only be thankful.
....
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, It's been a while since Renner got her own chapter, so I thought this was appropriate. Tell me your thoughts on it